10 FRUIT CULTURE IN GENERAL. 



I The "Free Use of Fruit as a Common Article of Food will 



Greatly Contribute to the Health of the People. 



This fact is now very generally conceded. Physicians and other 

 writers on Hygiene agree that ripe fruits are among the most 

 wholesome articles of diet, and that a much larger consumption of 

 them, to the partial exclusion of the flesh of animals, would natur- 

 ally improve the general health. Many quotations might be ad- 

 duced in support of this position, but a few must suffice. 



Dr. Kennicott, horticultural editor of the Prairie Farmer^ at 

 Chicago, and a man of much experience and observation, says: 



" The free use of ripe fruits not only prevents disease^ but then* 

 regulated enjoyment helps to remove that which already exists. 

 All ripe fruits are more or less nutritious. Proffessor Salisbury has 

 clearly demonstrated that the apple is superior to the potato in the 

 principles that go to increase the muscle and the Irain of man ; and 

 in fattening properties it is nearly equal, when cooked for swine or 

 fed raw to other domestic animals." 



A writer in Downing's Horticulturist^ Sept., 1852, has the fol- 

 lowing forcible remarks : 



"We believe most fully from personal experience, as well as ob- 

 servation, that an abundant use of fruits has a strikingly delightful 

 and elevating influence upon the animal spirits, as well as upon the 

 mind and soul ; that the constant habit of employing fruits will cure 

 many diseases, and have a most beneficial eftect upon the individual 

 and the race, and prove, next to air and water, the greatest of all 

 preventive medicaments." 



And he further continues : 



" We do not labor merely that this princely merchant and that 

 lordly nabob should have his table loaded with choice "specimens," 

 but that every man, woman, and child, month in and month out, 

 should revel in these delicious and healthful luxuries, till they be- 

 come the cheapest of common necessities." 



The Boston Medical and Surgical Journal uses the following 

 language : 



" Instead of standing in any fear of a generous consumption of 

 ripe fruits, we regard them as positively conducive to health. The 

 very maladies commonly assumed to have their origin in the free 

 use of apples, peaches, cherries, melons, and wild berries, have been 

 quite as prevalent, if not equally destructive, in seasons of scarcity. 



